OGDEN – Everyone has a passion, but not everyone can enjoy that passion as a career.
Vic Robite is one of the lucky ones.
Robite is the familiar face at Ogden Botanical Gardens, an all-rounder that specializes in roses. Robite is celebrating his 25th year in the gardens.
“I’m enjoying it. If you don’t like what you’re doing, my goodness, do something else, right?” Said Robite. “And the people are nice.”
Robite’s passion for roses began with his mother. He was born and raised in the Philippines and his mother always had roses.
“The land owner said, ‘Hey, why don’t you plant something you can eat?’” Robite said. “My mother said, ‘No, I enjoy this.'”
Robite’s trip to Ogden Botanical Gardens began in 1979 when he moved to the United States to marry Connie Frost, a woman who served a mission for Latter-day Saints in the area where Robite lived . The two were sealed in the Ogden Temple. Little did Robite know about the area and relied on his bride-to-be to make arrangements before he came over.
“We wrote and planned. I said, ‘Find us a place because I don’t want to stay in your parents’ house for a minute,’ “Robite said with a chuckle.
The two settled in Ogden and had seven children. Robite found a church steward and gardener job that he held for 31 years until he retired in 2010. In 1995 Robite was training AYSO soccer in addition to his church job when he saw an opportunity to work at the Ogden Botanical Gardens. Jerry Goodspeed had just been named director and Robite was one of his earliest collaborators.
Robite worked part time and immediately took responsibility for the roses.
“When I got here, I said to Jerry, ‘Hey, can I take the roses? ‘He said,’ Yes, ‘”Robite recalled. “There was a woman named Debbie. She said, “I’ll cut the roses.” I said, “Don’t touch it.” (She asked) why. I said, “That was assigned to me.”
There are over 300 roses of over 50 varieties in the Ogden Botanical Gardens, according to Robite. Every rose needs its own nuanced care method.
Robite knows exactly what he’s doing.
“When you approach (the rose) you get a picture in your head:” OK, how do I do that? “Said Robite.
The biggest challenge, according to Robite, is probably not unknown to anyone who works with roses: the thorns.
“Sometimes you see blood,” said Robite. “When I cut the roses, I don’t wear gloves.”
Robite’s passion forced him to continue working at the Ogden Botanical Gardens even after he retired from the Church. Nate Staker, who was named manager in January, said he reached out to Robite after being hired to see if he would be interested in coming back.
He said, ‘Yes, they are my babies. I have to come back and take care of her, ”said Staker.
For Staker, working with Robite is an interesting opportunity as Staker remembers being a little boy and seeing him. He would register vegetables at the Weber County Fair, and Robite served as the judge. When the rose garden was being laid out, the 33-year-old Staker remembered seeing Robite.
Staker is grateful for how much Robite helped him adapt.
“The topography for this area is really interesting as we have a slope on the south side of the property that runs off with a lot of runoff, either snow or water. So he helped me figure out, OK, this is where the drain pipes are and how the system flows and moves with the area, ”Staker said.
Staker called Robite “the weird relief” of the group of employees and a “phenomenal” cook.
Goodspeed, who is still the director, called Robite one of his “favorite people in the world”.
“He has managed these roses for the past 25 years … which have been viewed and admired and loved by hundreds of thousands of people, and he was responsible for them,” said Goodspeed. “But he did other things in the gardens too. He did everything we needed from him. “
At 75, Robite has no plans to quit anytime soon. He credits people like Bailey Bailey and Emily Summers, as well as Goodspeed, for making him feel so comfortable. When it’s time for Robite to kill a rose, the only ones who understand what he knows are Bailey and Summers, he said.
“Someone said, ‘Hey, you need to train someone. ‘I said,’ No, I think I’ll stay until I can’t move, ‘said Robite.
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